Glasses!
by Kullweet
Summary: After being away for a long time on a mission overseas, Ryohei finally came back home. And so, he paid a visit to his student, I-Pin. Now looking clearly at her, he found her quite similar to someone.


"Oi! I-pin! You there?"

The familiar voice clashed with her concentration. Much like the finger snapping at the end of hypnosis, the powerful sound left the girl slightly disorientated for a split second. After all, she had her head inside her brick-sized books for over four hours straight.

"Ah, yes! Please come in!" replied I-Pin, in a halt like an automatism. The door slid to the side and revealed the ever-so-energetic silver haired man, much to her delight. "You are finally back, Sasagawa-san!"

Ryohei replied with an affirmative "Aah!" He then dropped himself at the seat right across the girl and made himself comfortable under the kotetsu. "So, you really are always studying non-stop, aren't you?"

"Actually, I have been accumulating work lately. That's why I have to work harder or I will fall behind everyone in class!" A wink and a smile followed.

"Alright, alright, let me see." Ryohei snatched another brick and analyzed its content, "…inferior alveolar nerve gives off a branch in mandibu— huh…" The huge book made a loud thump when the hand suddenly flipped it closed. "Okay, Ryohei-sensei says that in life, all you need is EXTREME GUTS!"

I-Pin let out a good laugh from the stomach. She was not sure if the man was serious or not, but he probably was, considering his persona... and considering that his shout was so powerful that it echoed through the room. It was also not a necessity to raise both of his hands energetically at that, but his body language was what made this man so lovable. "Such a straight forward tutor that you are, Sasagawa-san."

A small talk about the happenings of the past few months followed in the reunion between tutor and student. So many things occurred since Ryohei left a year and a half ago, and there was much to be said. The topic diverged from laborious studies to what happened to Lambo when he accidentally destroyed a wall that connected the Vongola base to Hibari's research institute, or from a slightly complicated mission in Britannia to another eerie mission in a Justaway factory. Ten, twenty minutes slipped by quite quickly. In fact, the more Ryohei observed the girl, the more he realized that ten, twenty years could fly by just as fast. He gave up on trying remembering when he started to train I-Pin with her sun attribute ring. After all, the day that he would remember the dates of distant events would be the day that bears will rain from the sky, or so Gokudera said.

After only so many months, the girl was surprisingly not the same as before. _'Kids really do grow up so fast.' _Ryohei scanned the girl's face yet again, trying to figure out what became so different about her. It was when he stopped at the forehead that his look became a blank stare. There was something different about I-Pin that was so much more familiar to him. It was that strange feeling of familiarity, this terrible déjà-vu that pinched his heart. _'I don't get it. This face… Did I see another person extremely similar to her somewhere else…? No, that's not it…' _At that moment, he really wished that bears really could fall from the sky to help him remember who it was that I-pin reminded him so much of. _'For her to leave such a strong impression on me, she must have been… important? Did I really meet someone like that before?'_

Ryohei tried to keep up with the conversation with the student without revealing his perplexity. He tried looking at I-Pin as a person of her own and not as the shadow of a mysterious woman of his memories. It was then that he noticed that time made her so much more feminine than before. She really became a pretty lady. He used to point out how adorable she was when she was a kid, but this time, the realization did not have the same meaning. _'Wait, meaning? What meaning?'_ The thought that he looked at his student as a woman instead of a child who grew up troubled him. _'That's wrong, that's wrong, that's so…' _The man felt suddenly even more unease; one of the reasons being that it was inconceivable for him to change vision on the girl that he partly raised, and the other reason came from the fact that the odd feeling that he had earlier did not dissipate yet. He wanted to look away, to leave even, but when he thought that over, there was no valid reason for him to do so. After all, he should be forgetting all this soon enough thanks to his semi-reliable memory.

However, it was easier said than done. He saw it. It struck him. The forehead. The girl with the…

"Large…"

"Eh? What do you mean, Sasagawa-san?" Asked I-Pin who did not understand clearly what her temporary tutor said. Since she was mentioning about Bianchi, she was not sure where his comment fitted in the conversation. Ryohei panicked upon realizing that he spoke his thoughts unconsciously.

"Ah no-no-no-no! I… I had something else in mind. Sorry about that."

But he finally remembered. The girl with the large forehead. The girl who appeared long ago, back when he was still a high-schooler. That was her. It was her, the grown-up girl who appeared and turned into the young I-Pin in his dreams. It was her, the girl whom he wanted to recruit in his former boxing club. She was the one who never appeared again. The girl with the large forehead, the girl who he wished to meet again. The one whom he…

"I-Pin…"

"Say, Sasagawa-san…" I-Pin did not hear the man speak. A question had been pending in her mind since his arrival. She did not know when would be the better opportunity to ask anymore. "During your trip, did you… I mean, I heard that … I think that you met with Hibari-san. How… has he been doing?"

Everything stopped at that moment. Time stopped. Space stopped. Breathing stopped. Heartbeat stopped.

'_That's right..._

_Why did I become overexcited over this? This, this is nothing. There was no reason. I-Pin is my student. That is all.'_

"Aah! Now, he's another one who disappears frequently, isn't he?" There was no change in Ryohei's voice. It was the same confident and unshaken voice. "By chance, I was able to catch him in his office at Sicily. He looked overworked as usual. Always yawning and whatnot."

_'That's right… Hasn't she always been fascinated with Hibari? Hi-Hibari. That's right. What… Just what was I…'_

"That's… good to know." A reserved smile formed on her lips. "Every one is always so busy, always moving without rest…" There was melancholy in her eyes. Waiting, was it the fate of women in the Vongola family?

"Sometimes, it's not something that we can help." A sigh was left out. Ryohei felt the pocket of his vest. Hesitation momentarily stopped him from reaching the object inside it, but for the sake of changing the subject, he went ahead and grasped the box.

"Oh! I almost forgot. I went and bought a bunch of souvenirs for you guys from my trip to Britannia. I wanted to get you a figurine of that mascot from… what was it again… some tokusatsu show that you watch on every Sunday morning." The man pulled out the box from his pocket and placed it in the middle of the table. "Well… Kyouko mentioned that you've been needing glasses… I didn't think I had an affinity for those kind of things… So… I asked a co-worker to choose a model for you… And, huh… Here you go…" From the way he talked, with his right hand on his chin, his eyes looking up left, his eyebrows slightly frowning, it seemed like he was not sure of what he was saying or if he should be saying anything at all .

"Eh?!" I-Pin looked at the case in front of her and panicked. "But, but! Sasagawa-san! Such a gift…! I do not think I ca--"

"It's alright. Bought them for ya, so just use them." Ryohei said as he looked over at the doors that he did not close when he came in. Without leaving the girl any time to respond, he continued, "There's still work for me to do, so I'll get going."

The girl was surprised at the prompt departure. She precipitated to reply to him, "Ah, I'll bring them to the optician tomorrow! I'll definitely show you my brand new glasses when they're done! … Thank you so much, Sasagawa-san!"

The tutor smiled back and raised his hand as a goodbye. He felt the warmth of her gratitude from her voice. That was all he needed.

Back in his room, the man completely dropped himself in his couch. He bent down, but stretched back up again, not knowing what to do. It was probably not apparent, but that single trip to deliver the souvenir to his student drained most of his strength. His body was restrained as hard as possible to keep it from reflecting his mental state since that would unavoidably worry the girl. He was broken, but he kept smiling. _'Was it an act? Did I really act that out?'_

After all, it was the day that a man found the one he had been longing for. Sadly, it was also the day that his first love was forced to end at an unexpected time.

'_What was I thinking… how shameful from a grown up like me.'_

Despite all this, he would have to stand strong on the next day. The sun would have to shine above the shame, the regret and the melancholy. As expected, it was easier said than done.


End file.
